When Nick Houghton joined the Coyle-Cassidy High School swim and dive team a year ago as a freshman, he had an immediate impact.

Although the Berkley resident was new to the Warriors’ program, he had several years of experience as a swimmer for the Bluefish Swim Club among other youth clubs in the area.

“I’ve been swimming all together five or six years,” he said. “I was prepared physically and mentally for swimming because my body was in shape and I knew what swimming was about. I knew how to dive, how to turn, do the strokes correctly and it really helped me in high school.”

On a small high school team, Houghton emerged as one of its stars. After the season ended, head coach Ann Devin said he was C-C’s most consistent male swimmer. Houghton earned Taunton Daily Gazette All-Scholastic second team membership for his performances in the backstroke and distance freestyle events.

“I had all these years before (high school) of training hard and that has definitely put me above people who had just started,” Houghton said of his instant success at the high school level. “It brings the team up from second places to first places and gives you more points.”

Houghton knew right away when he got to Coyle-Cassidy, he wanted to swim for the high school team.

Although he was practicing and competing nearly every day for the Warriors, Houghton continued to be a part of the Bluefish Swim Club at the Raynham Athletic Club.

“When I didn’t have a high school practice, I’d go to Bluefish,” he said. “Swimming for high school I knew I’d be pretty good this year, but if I didn’t do Bluefish again, then I would be held back. Plus I liked it so I did both just to keep me up with the competition.”

Competing on a club team along with a high school squad is commonplace for swimmers in the area.

“I love high school swimming,” said Bluefish owner and coach Chuck Batchelor. “Unfortunately some of the high school swimming schedules conflict and at times it may stand in the way a little bit in their overall success at say the national level, but we’ve been pretty fortunate to have the flexibility on our end to work with it. I would say more than half our kids are able to do both.

“Swimmers are kind of the unsung heroes of high schools. No one knows they spend all of their time in the water so when they get a chance to show off in front of them at high school, I think it’s great. I would have liked it as a kid for sure.”

Houghton thought swimming at Coyle-Cassidy would put not only myself but the team on the map.

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“I’ve been swimming for a while and I wanted to do something (in high school) because it would help the team out and I wanted to do it for myself because I can do well,” he said.

Success across the board

Coyle-Cassidy isn’t the only high school team reaping the benefits of youth programs such as the Bluefish Swim Club, the Freetown/Lakeville Aquatics Program, Hopewell Park Pool swimming and the Boys and Girls Club team based out of the Old Colony YMCA. Teams at Apponequet, Bridgewater-Raynham, Middleboro and Taunton High are seeing increased success thanks to more incoming athletes participating in youth swimming programs.

“We try to encourage kids to participate prior to getting to the high school level because it’s an uphill battle,” said Everett Clark, Middleboro High coach and director of Hopewell Park Pool. “I would absolutely say a lot of the better swimmers and divers are doing more before they get to high school.”

Sophomore Kendra Perry is an example of that. When Perry joined the Sachems’ team last winter as a freshman, she turned heads by placing first in the conference meet in the 200 Individually Medley. She went on to place 21st in the 200 freestyle and 24th in the 200 IM at states to earn her first selection to the Taunton Daily Gazette All-Scholastic first team. In all, Perry qualified for sectionals in four events — 200 IM, 200 freestyle, 500 freestyle and 100 breaststroke. Prior to attending Middleboro High, Perry swam for the YMCA team and Kingfish swimming based out of Plymouth.

“It’s like starting off in the third floor and we brought her up to the seventh floor,” Clark said of her improvement over the course of last winter. “She’s a perfect example of someone who swam before high school and was at another level.”

Even joining a swim club once an athlete is in high school can have its benefits. Sarah King had a solid season last winter as a Middleboro sophomore, but she wanted to get even better so she has been taking lessons in the offseason.

“I’m hoping she’ll do something in the fall as well,” Clark said. “I can guarantee you she’ll be way ahead of everyone else in the winter.”

Apponequet coach and Freetown/Lakeville Aquatics director Brett Pacheco is seeing the impact of youth swimming on his high school team.

Many of his current and former swimmers, including standouts Chad Littlefield and Ben Nicholas have taken part in the Freetown/Lakeville Warriors.

“The girls had a big team my first year and a lot of those kids at some point had been involved in Warriors swimming,” Pacheco said. “Now we’re starting to see again the kids get involved. I’m seeing the success from it.”

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While Apponequet turned in one of its best seasons in recent memory last winter, two freshmen — Conor Ragas and Reggie O’Conner — provided depth with their background in swimming.

Outside swimming has made Taunton High a dangerous team to face with Alana Aubin, Colette Aubin and Kristen Carey participating in the offseason for various clubs in the area. All three were Taunton Daily Gazette All-Scholastic first team members last year and qualified for sectionals and states in their respective events.

Don’t be surprised if Bridgewater-Raynham becomes a contender this winter in just its second year of competition. After all, the Trojans are coached by Bluefish owner and coach Christie Batchelor and have several athletes coming in with experience. One of those athletes is Clark’s daughter, Kelsey, a B-R freshman.

“She’s got four girls coming up that are good swimmers,” Clark said of Batchelor’s incoming class. “That’s a relay right there. That’s going to be a relay that could be a top 16 finisher in sectionals.

“My daughter, I think she’ll make states this year considering she’s coming in with a time that qualifies for states already.”

Batchelor understands the more experience, the better for her high school swim team, but that doesn’t mean she’s turning away high school-aged newcomers to the sport.

“To have any competitive experience is important,” she said. “You can have kids that have never competed before and be successful, but I think the kids who have some experience win in the confidence battle.”

Advantages to youth swimming

Houghton said his high school success wouldn’t have been possible without his participation in youth swimming.

It was there that his foundation was built.

Not only did he learn different strokes and how to pace himself during a race, he saw firsthand what it meant to be a part of a team.

For many high school, college and even Olympic (Elizabeth Beisel) level swimmers, it all begins in a pool like the one at Hopewell Park, the YMCA, the Raynham Athletic Club or the Austin Intermediate School.

“The hardest part about swimming for little kids to understand is — what I do today is going to affect my performance six months from now,” Christie Batchelor said.

The Bluefish Swim Club as well as the Freetown/Lakeville Aquatics Program are members of USA Swimming and feature programs for children of all ages and abilities.

“We offer lessons even to adults and I think as young as infants with a mom or a dad so there’s a range for starting to swim,” Batchelor said. “If you’re progressing, we’ll move you right through. People can progress at their own rate.

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“You’re not born able to swim and so it’s definitely not an activity that’s not natural for the human body so kind of the more you do it, the longer you do it, the chances are the better you are. At the same time, I’ve had boys start as late as age 15 or 16 and actually reach a very high level. I would say that’s not the norm.”

Bluefish, which is based out of Raynham but has locations in Attleboro and Woonsocket, R.I., has more than 150 members with nearly 40 coming from Raynham (10), Taunton (six), Norton (eight), Lakeville (five), Berkley (four), Middleboro (two), Bridgewater (two) and Freetown (one). Freetown/Lakeville has between 40 and 50 active members.

“It’s what Bluefish is, but on a smaller scale,” Pacheco said.

Bluefish swimming starts off with lessons. Once swimmers have learned the different strokes, they can join either the mini Bluefish (ages 5 through 9) or the Goldfish (ages 7-13). Both groups focus on the fundamentals of the sport such as the rules and regulations of swimming. The next level is Junior One — where swimmers concentrate on more stroke development and endurance training. The Junior Two level is for advanced swimmers who have yet to reach the Senior Team, which is made up of high school-aged swimmers. The top level is the National Team, where Beisel is a member of the Bluefish.

“I’ve never seen a sport as intense as swimming,” Bluefish parent Carolyn Cerce said. “You can’t even imagine the hours you put into practice.”

Cerce’s daughter, Kendra, has been swimming since age three. The 11-year-old from Norton likes the competitive side of swimming.

“Because I love the water and I thought it was a good sport for me,” she said of why she started swimming. “I like the sport because it’s different and I like to compete with other kids.”

Kendra Cerce isn’t alone.

“Bluefish — it’s a lot of fun because you actually get to swim laps and at the end of practice you usually get to play games and have fun,” said Emmy McQuaid, 11, of Norton.